Like Sand in an Hourglass
by Lady Discord
Summary: The Sands of Time ... what they are, how they were created and for what purpose. And what is Kaileena's true story? Based on Persian Mythology


**  
The Sands of Time ... what they are, how they were created and for what purpose. And what is Kaileena's true story?**

_** Based on Persian Mythology  
**_

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Time as we now perceive it did not exist in the beginning. Eons ago, when the universe was yet to be created, the great god Zurvan Akarana existed in an infinite time and space, he alone being the personification of eternal time. With the creation of man and the dual existence we know today, that is the ever going struggle on Earth between good and evil, in such various ways, all these being nothing more than echoes of the great battle between Heaven and Hell, the domains of Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, Zurvan decided that infinite time had to be limited for the newly created universe, and equally divided between his sons, thus creating order in the world.

Ahura Mazda, the god of light, construction, fertility and light together with his twin brother Ahriman, the god of darkness,  
destruction, sterility and death gave the world the stability it needed to properly exist and time was divided in two halves that would gradually succeed each other in an ever-going process. The first half, called day, a bright and peaceful one, empowered by Ahura Mazda would always be succeeded by a dark and fear-inspiring one, called night and empowered by Ahriman.

The two halves formed a whole, as flawless and complete as a sphere and in order to create a logical universal system so that mortals could understand the succession of these spheres' and the changes they brought in their lives, Zurvan created a unique timeline within the infinite time, in which the existence of the newly created universe would be recorded, from its beginning to its end.

Apart from humans, other celestial beings were created, which were neither gods, nor mortals, creatures that would serve as mediators between the eternal world of the divine and the ephemeral world of mortals. Although eternal spirits like the gods themselves, these divine beings had humanly bodies and were therefore males and females. One of these celestial beings, bearing the form of a female, was placed as guardian and preserver of the time-line. Influenced by the evil Ahriman, some celestial beings revolted against the supreme god, questioning his choice and brutally demanding more power themselves.

Consequently, the god punished these ungrateful beings and stripped them of some of their power, cursing them to forever dwell in darkness, serving Ahriman and inspiring fear to mortals. These demonic creatures, now with mixed human and animal features increasing their frightening appearance retained the name of Daevas, which was first used to name the celestial beings, while the pure ones, those that did not rebel, received the name of Ahuras, literally meaning gods', even  
though their power was only a shadow of that of their master, Ahura Mazda.

The female celestial being, the last of the initial pure Daevas was not only given the power to control the unique timeline, but she was also made one with it. To avoid a possible rebellion of the woman who now possessed immense powers, although she herself did not know the extent of these powers, Zurvan decided that she should live among mortals. Receiving the name Kaileena she was sent to earth, one of the most promising lands of all those crated in the beginning, and the first priests of Ahura Mazda became her protectors, forming a cult of warrior priests. Although Kaileena's human body would never age, she could still be killed like a mere mortal, which was something that priests had been ordered by their god to prevent at all costs, for her death would cause chaos in the timeline and bring death and destruction upon mankind.

The devastating consequences of Kaileena's murder were as such because she was first of all a part of the timeline, having become something different from Azuras, Daevas and humans, even though she retained characteristics from all three, and secondly because Zurvan made it so her death would be a curse for whoever dared to take the life of such a sacred being. For centuries Kaileena was blessed with a peaceful existence among humans, who feared, respected and worshiped her, but then Ahriman decided it was time to put his evil plan into motion. He knew very well that whoever killed Kaileena would gain complete control of the unique timeline, but while such great powers could not be handled by a simple mortal, inevitably triggering their annihilation, for a supreme god like him it would not be difficult to control those powers and use them to his advantage.However, Ahriman knew that he could never kill Kaileena himself or have his demons do it without stirring the wrath of Zurvan and Ahura Mazda and bringing upon himself a punishment greater than he had been forced to endure by being in the shadow of his twin brother and not sharing equal powers as him. So Ahriman turned to the mortal humans,  
those insignificant creatures that held within them immense potential. In those times, mortals were all pure of heart, being shaped to be a smaller projection of the great god himself. But Ahriman could see beyond the surface, in the depths of their hearts, where they lay potential for great evil, for humans had received an equal amount of traits from both of the twin gods. He then proceeded to awaken the dark side of each human, infesting their minds and easily corrupted hearts with arrogance, violence and lust for power.

This caused a ripple effect that changed humans forever across the entire timeline. Kaileena, being one with the timeline, possessed the ability to see things that had not yet come to pass in the current time. This is how she learned of her inevitable death caused by none other than one of the humans she was meant to protect. Baring mortal traits herself, she felt fear but eventually ended up accepting her fate, but Ahriman's plan was still far from being complete. He poisoned Kaileena's mind as well, bringing forth her dark side, telling her that she had no reason to simply stay and wait for death  
when she could fight it. Increasing her fear, he made her obey him and she did.

The new ideas that the evil god had seeded inside her mind maid Kaileena abandon her responsibilities and take refuge far from the mortal world, on an isolated island situated at the border between the two realms, that of humans and that of the gods. With the aid of Ahriman, who appeared willing to help her for her own good and no one else's, she built a grand fortress on the island where she would live in seclusion and she used her magic to spawn unearthly creatures that  
would serve and protect her. Still, an important detail was missing from Ahriman's malicious scheme.

Even after Kaileena would be murdered in the future, he would still not have access to her powers, because Zurvan made sure that if she were to die, her body would turn into what it was metaphorically called "the sands of time", a physical manifestation of the hidden power concealed by the unique timeline. According to Zurvan's orders these so-called sands would be locked away so that no one could have access to such uncontrolled and destructive powers. Ahriman now  
understood that he would have to use mortals again as pawns in his scheme. If a mortal were to release the sands then he would immediately gain full control of them, even though he might not be aware of it and he might not know how to use this power, which could end up destroying him.

Under the pretext that he only wanted to protect Kaileena, Ahriman gained the permission of the gods to create together with her a creature of great power that would ensure the balance of the timeline, and if the sands were to be released it would make sure the one responsible would be eliminated from the timeline. The creature resulting from the combined magic of Ahriman and Kaileena had the dark traits of a Daeva but just like Kaileena, it was a part of the timeline.

Time past and the prophecy was fulfilled; Kaileena died at the hands of a mortal, the sand were created but entrapped. Centuries later, the sands were released and the Dahaka, the creature created to guard the timeline, was awakened and set off to find the mortal responsible for the disturbance of the timeline. Even though the mortal had managed to  
close the sands back in their hourglass, apparently making it as though they were never released, the harm was done and he was left with powers over the timeline beyond his knowledge. When the Dahaka would kill this mortal and absorb his vital essence, the power of the timeline would pass onto him and since he was a creature of Ahriman, the god in his turn would absorb the powers from the creature, eliminating him as a result.


End file.
